First, a note: Since the beginning of this blog, no other issue that we have explored here has more closely aligned with one of our tours than does this one. At the risk of seeming self-serving, it is important to understand that even before we knew about TOFTigers, we developed our Precious […]

We just completed one of our most compelling national rituals – the annual battle between worthy challengers which millions of us wait impatiently for throughout the season. This super rite of passage comes with a tiny promise tucked inside that spring may not be far away (well, maybe not this […]

Seems a little unlikely, I know, but necessary. Last year, we launched galapagos.com, a site dedicated to making sustainable travel in Latin America more easily understood and applied, and it includes rankings for individual countries. Galapagos.com will soon be joined by a partner site that will serve the same purpose […]

What if we asked Big Five’s CEO and CFO (aka Ashish’s parents, aka The Founders) if we could change our name to Big Six Tours? After all, we are often asked why we still call ourselves Big Five since we do so much more than just Africa. It will come […]

Apparently, the Whitsunday Islands, a collection of continental islands off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, should have been named the WhitMondays. In 1770, English explorer Captain James Cook sailed through a passage he named “Whitsunday’s Passage”, which he did in honor of Whit Sunday, a Pentecost holy day in […]

Don’t Let Procrastination Delay Your Tours Time is a subtle thief. Even, when we love something, time often slips in the door, and before we realize it, the deadline is here…. or worse, passed. That is especially painful when the thing we’ve missed is something we love to do, like […]

With the launch of the newest in the Star Wars chronicles – The Last Jedi – just around the corner, we thought it only fitting to acknowledge the first aircraft to truly open up the skies to the future… the biplane. In the early 1900s, the idea of the biplane […]

The most lasting progress is often the hardest to spot. Indeed, one of the examples Merriam-Webster dictionary cites to demonstrate the concept is: gradual betterment; especially: the progressive development of humankind. When we began this year, we were delighted that the United Nations proclaimed 2017 as The International Year of […]

The U.S. is celebrating Thanksgiving this week, and Canada celebrated theirs’ last month. As we reflect on what we have to be grateful for, the obvious things come to mind – our family and friends, our work, our health and so much more. But when we look at the direction […]

Just how many of the same island or river cruises can you sell, or plane tickets can you generate before it all becomes so routine that you need your own escape? Or, maybe you think it’s getting harder and harder to distinguish yourself from the crowd; or, as one agent […]